Chopin - 24 Etudes [Tomassi]
I played this disc for the first time back in early 2011 [15th March 2011], and i called it 'very special' then, and on this second listening i feel even more so, i would say she has inspired individual touches, she does certain things different than anyone i've ever heard, but it's not 'wayward' different, most of the things she does are justified and work, she's great with sonorities, bringing in soundworld ideas that i feel Chopin would approve of, again i notice the jerky rhythms, but these are put to great use, rather than as some sort of handicap, some of the things she does are controversial, slow or fast speeds, jagged transitions, not everything works [No3 is fast, and really quite flat!], but even here there's food for thought, and ideas to think about, a very enlightening set of Chopin's Etudes.
Giorgia Tomassi is Italian, she recorded this disc in 1997, the front cover photograph [by Gian Luca Liverani] is an excellent one, the background wall isn't the greatest of backgrounds, but i love the pose, the hands are especially pronounced, nice colours on the lettering, very well laid out.
There were revelations galore, especially in Etudes 1-2, 4-5, 7-14, 16-17 & 21-24, now that's virtually all of them!, whittling it down to two which were superbly enlightening, i would say 1 & 9 were absolutely terrific, and the last time i played this 4 & 9 were my favourites, so it seems i've got a thing about No9 from Tomassi, i find that the greatest Pianists seem to excel in one certain Etude, seemingly making it their own, Louis Lortie does the same thing with No8, sometime in the future i would love to record a disc with 24 different Pianists on one disc, each taking an Etude that they have made their own, that would make a tremendous disc of music.
Etude 1 [Nicolay Khozyainov] - Nothing special reveals itself at first, a good sustained interpretation, her fingers in the right hand have a bubbly flow that is a beautiful legato, perfecto!, i like the way she creates waves of loud and not so loud, my two favourite interpretations are Louis Lortie [1:55] and Boris Berezovsky [2:00], Tomassi takes [1:50], but it doesn't sound rushed or garbled, it gives it a breathtaking fizz, a great intro to the whole of the Etudes.
Etude 9 [Valentina Lisitsa] - The Ninth is very special, again sounding nothing special at first, but her ability to make the treble outbursts to ring in your ears is incredible, again Lortie [2:07] and Berezovsky [2:11] shave a bit off of Tomassi's [2:19], but Tomassi's little hesitancies are put to good effect, she imperceptibly slows it down in certain sections, and it gives a sense of 'tease', makes you want it all the more, her ability to control those angry little upper treble notes, annoyances at first, then more cries of pain later, i just love the way the dying echo of the first outburst is so weighted [0:47], it gives it such a satisfactory culmination, and the louder tolling later [0:57-1:10], has softer and more hesitant echoes, again nicely weighted to maximum tease, lovely gentle right hand trills right after, i love the way her left hand argues / counteracts the main right hand melody, it's like a gentle muttering of disapproval in the background [1:29+], wow she gets those hesitations just right, she's in no hurry to finish the piece, yet still the whole thing is over too soon, the ending is perfect, a delicious chiming of treble notes [2:06-2:16], and ends in a solitary treble ping, this was the best thing i heard all day.
Etude 1 [Nicolay Khozyainov] - Nothing special reveals itself at first, a good sustained interpretation, her fingers in the right hand have a bubbly flow that is a beautiful legato, perfecto!, i like the way she creates waves of loud and not so loud, my two favourite interpretations are Louis Lortie [1:55] and Boris Berezovsky [2:00], Tomassi takes [1:50], but it doesn't sound rushed or garbled, it gives it a breathtaking fizz, a great intro to the whole of the Etudes.
Etude 9 [Valentina Lisitsa] - The Ninth is very special, again sounding nothing special at first, but her ability to make the treble outbursts to ring in your ears is incredible, again Lortie [2:07] and Berezovsky [2:11] shave a bit off of Tomassi's [2:19], but Tomassi's little hesitancies are put to good effect, she imperceptibly slows it down in certain sections, and it gives a sense of 'tease', makes you want it all the more, her ability to control those angry little upper treble notes, annoyances at first, then more cries of pain later, i just love the way the dying echo of the first outburst is so weighted [0:47], it gives it such a satisfactory culmination, and the louder tolling later [0:57-1:10], has softer and more hesitant echoes, again nicely weighted to maximum tease, lovely gentle right hand trills right after, i love the way her left hand argues / counteracts the main right hand melody, it's like a gentle muttering of disapproval in the background [1:29+], wow she gets those hesitations just right, she's in no hurry to finish the piece, yet still the whole thing is over too soon, the ending is perfect, a delicious chiming of treble notes [2:06-2:16], and ends in a solitary treble ping, this was the best thing i heard all day.
